Yes, we’ve lured you in with the treehouse. But a treehouse isn’t the only way a hotel communes with the natural landscape. From the forests of Canada to the cliffs of Italy to the jungles of Mexico, our Key hotels — the most outstanding places in the world, as selected by MICHELIN Inspectors — feature no shortage of immersive forest designs.
Some of the hotels below feature actual treehouses, the simple designs of the backyard clubhouse interpolated by the world’s best designers. Others, a setting intricately linked with the forest.
We had only two qualifications when we put together this list. Keys and trees. As it happens, they’re some of the most thrilling hotel designs worldwide.
Location: Esvres-sur-Indre, France
A departure from the typical Loire Valley wine-château model, Loire Valley Lodges provides treehouse-like lodges instead, with suites that stand on stilts and bring guests level with the forest. It’s comfortable up there: complete with large terraces and private spas.
Location: Zihuatanejo, Mexico
On protected land a half hour outside of Zihuatanejo, there are actual treehouse accommodations here — and they’re significantly better designed than those from the childhood backyard, although with near as much imagination.
Location: Positano, Italy
It’s not a treehouse, but Il San Pietro di Positano clings to the cliffside like the trees that surround it, offering unparalleled views of the sea from every room and every terrace. There are no inferior views; each room hugs the cliff at its back side and opens onto a private terrace at the front. Meanwhile, gardens and greenery cover half the estate in 10 leveled terraces cut right into the rock, while the scent of fragrant lemon trees wafts through the air.
Location: Kamala, Thailand
In Phuket, each of Keemala’s rooms are set among the trees of the coastal rainforest the hotel calls home. But it’s the Tent Pool Villas and the Tree Pool Houses that epitomize the treehouse-chic aesthetic that can make hotel obsessives like us giddy. All of Keemala’s villas and cottages come with private pools.
Location: Halibut Cove, USA
Set on a private peninsula, ensconced in the woods of Alaska’s Halibut Cove, Stillpoint Lodge is an upscale version of Alaskan tourism — but you won’t lose sight of why you came here: to see whales and birds, hike trails, and explore what makes this place so special. Private cabins, set in the spruce, birch, and willow trees, are log cabins made luxe.
Location: Koh Kood, Thailand
Soneva Kiri offers an experience that’s one-of-a-kind, even on a list like this. We’re referring to the “Treepod Dining.” Diners perch in bamboo pods, level with the the treeline of the ancient rainforest, and enjoy small plates and beverages served by a waiter who arrives via zip line. It goes without saying that rooms too are set within the forest.
Location: Alicante, Spain
The ultra-modern glass-walled boxes of Vivood Landscape Hotel’s forest cabins center the beauty of Spain’s Guadalest Valley. It’s not just rooms that face the hills and mountains beyond, but pools and showers with their own panoramic views.
Location: Izu, Japan
Dating back to 1874, Ochiairo, set in the mountains of Izu, is a classic hot spring ryokan. Two hours from Tokyo it is nonetheless wonderfully rural, set between converging rivers and offering bicycle excursions into the area’s gorgeous maple forests.
Location: Bacalar, Mexico
Bacalar’s been touted as an up-and-coming destination for years now. Boca de Agua takes that literally: raising its rooms on stilts the better for jungle immersion.
Location: Tofino, Canada
Fans will associate the Vancouver Island location of Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge with the reality show Alone, where survivalists dropped in the forest must get by on wits and a few carefully considered tools. Here, you have significantly more at your disposal. But the 600-acres of wilderness are much the same. Dotted within the trees are gorgeous canvas rooms in the finest glamping tradition.
